New Scientist


SpaceXAI data centre may have led to Mississippi air pollution spike

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Elon Musk firm’s Colossus 2 data centre – the largest in the US – has been spewing out nitrogen oxide emissions from trailer-mounted gas turbines, an analysis suggests


Earliest alligator flourished in the wake of the dinosaur extinction

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Just a few hundred thousand years after an asteroid wiped out most dinosaurs, large alligators were thriving in North America


AI is both the best and worst thing to ever happen to mathematics

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 14:46:18 +0000

Mathematicians now have a formidable tool for breaking open challenging problems, but working out how best to use it isn't going to be easy


How to build powerful microhabits for your wellbeing – and keep them

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Research shows that short practices of mindfulness are as good as, if not better than, long ones. Columnist David Robson takes a look at how we can incorporate these microhabits into our daily lives


Natural feedbacks will warm world an extra 20 per cent this century

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Ecosystems like wetlands emit more carbon as temperatures rise. By 2100, such feedback loops will increase warming by 20 to 30 per cent more than anticipated


We may finally know what kick-starts muscle contractions in childbirth

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0000

An influx of immune cells into the uterus may be what initiates childbirth. These grab on to muscle cells via tiny tubes and send across mitochondria to provide energy for contractions


Gamma ray burst may have been two supernovae in one

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000

A group of astronomers proposes that a series of events in a distant galaxy formed both a black hole and a pulsar, but other experts say the conclusion is premature


Exquisite 66-million-year-old bird feather preserved in dinosaur dropping

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:00:00 +0000

A dinosaur, possibly a young Tyrannosaurus rex, excreted a bird 66 million years ago, and one of its feathers is exquisitely preserved in the fossilised dropping


Here is how to understand OpenAI’s major mathematical breakthrough

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:50:12 +0000

Since OpenAI announced its solution to one of the prestigious Millennium Prize Problems, mathematicians have been urgently trying to unpick what it means


The world’s biggest carbon sink may start emitting CO2 after net zero

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000

If the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere declines, the Southern Ocean is likely to begin emitting more carbon than it absorbs, prolonging global warming